Deuterated molecules in regions of high-mass star formation

TL;DR

This study investigates deuterated molecules in high-mass star-forming regions, analyzing their abundance, distribution, and relation to physical conditions using radio telescope observations.

Contribution

It provides new observational data on deuterated molecules in high-mass star formation regions and explores their dependencies on temperature and velocity dispersion.

Findings

Deuteration degree reaches ~10^{-2} in studied regions.

H13CN/H13C ratio indicates gas kinetic temperature.

Spatial distributions of deuterated molecules analyzed.

Abstract

We present the results of our studies of deuterated molecules (DCN, DNC, DCO$^+$, N$_2$D$^+$ and NH$_2$D) in regions of high-mass star formation, which include a survey of such regions with the 20-m Onsala radio telescope and mapping of several objects in various lines with the 30-m IRAM and 100-m MPIfR radio telescopes. The deuteration degree reaches $\sim$10$^{-2}$ in these objects. We discuss its dependencies on the gas temperature and velocity dispersion, as well as spatial distributions of deuterated molecules. We show that the H$^{13}$CN/HN$^{13}$C intensity ratio may be a good indicator of the gas kinetic temperature and estimate densities of the investigated objects.